


Family Celebration

by chaosDesigner



Series: chaosDesigner's Symphogear Prompt Collection [4]
Category: Senki Zesshou Symphogear
Genre: Birthday, Birthday Party, Birthday Presents, F/F, Fluff, Friendship, Intrigue, Not Beta Read, POV First Person, Party, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-25
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-15 16:15:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29686599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaosDesigner/pseuds/chaosDesigner
Summary: Shortly after the the girls' victory over Shem-Ha, Shirabe's birthday arrives. All her friends, as well as some unexpected but not unwelcome additions, get together to celebrate and give her gifts. The most significant gift, however, is quite a puzzling one...
Relationships: Akatsuki Kirika/Tsukuyomi Shirabe, Kohinata Miku & Tachibana Hibiki, Kohinata Miku/Tachibana Hibiki
Series: chaosDesigner's Symphogear Prompt Collection [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2109444
Kudos: 4





	Family Celebration

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! Story set during Shirabe's birthday, arriving late. xD Sorry about that, I really have no excuse...
> 
> Anyways, this one is another story written following a prompt from the /r/Symphogear server. The prompt is the following:
> 
> Gifts: The joy of receiving a pair of gloves. A nice dress. Stuffed animal toys. Not just because of the items themselves, but because of the meaning and very act of gift giving from those who care about you. Write a story about the some of the Symphogear characters giving or receiving some sort of gift.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

I already had a pretty good idea of what Kiri-chan was planning when she told me that we’d be going to Hibiki-san and Miku-san’s apartment tonight. Of course, I know what date it is: 16 February, my birthday. My sixteenth birthday, to be exact. Since I already know, I definitely don’t think her trying to feign ignorance is necessary, especially considering how bad she is at it. But I decided to play along, anyway, since her eagerness is adorable.

That said, did she really need to blindfold me when we arrived at the floor of the apartment?

“Kiri-chan, I can’t see!” I protest, keeping one hand on the wall to guide myself while she pulls me by the other hand, clearly trying to hold back her enthusiasm so she doesn’t literally drag me to the apartment.

“I know! Just… endure it a little! It’ll be worth it!” she exclaims. “We’re almost there!”

I sigh. “Fine…”

We continue walking for a few minutes, with me tripping on…  _ something _ and almost falling a couple times. I don’t fall, though, because she catches me every time I trip. I grumble in annoyance each time it happens, with her chuckling nervously in response, but I have to smile afterwards, thinking about how much I can rely on her.

“We’ve reached the door!” she announces, and I breathe a sigh of relief. She leads me to it, then rings the doorbell. While we wait, I hear some muffled voices and shuffling around, but it’s very short-lived, as Hibiki-san comes to open the door for us. “Kirika-chan! Shirabe-chan! Welcome!” she greets happily.

“Thanks for having us!” Kiri-chan responds cheerily as we step into the apartment, and I nod appreciatively at the general direction I heard Hibiki-san’s voice coming from.

We step inside and Kiri-chan helps me sit down on the entryway step and remove my shoes, and after a moment in which I can only assume she took off her own and placed them aside with mine, she helps me back up and guides me to the slippers Hibiki-san set out for me. Afterwards, they take one of my hands each and guide more forwards into the apartment proper, while I question my luck after realising that the two most hyperactive of my friends are the ones guiding me while I’m blindfolded. Miraculously, I don’t faceplant before reaching the living room.

When we do reach our destination, both of them let go of me at once, and having nothing within arm’s reach to guide myself, I tense up, afraid to move and bump into anything.

“Uh… Kiri-chan, can I take the blindfold off now?”

“Wait just a moment!” she calls from somewhere across the room, and I even hear her moving. “And… There! You can take it off!”

I reach up and quickly push the blindfold up above my head, but the lights blind me as soon as it’s off. I have to blink a couple times to adjust to the brightness.

But before I have a chance of doing that, I hear several party poppers going off.

“Happy birthday!” the voices of my friends cheer at once, followed by either my name or some variation on it, depending on who says it. I think I even hear a “Tsuki” there somewhere.

My vision adjusts and I see that all of my fellow Symphogear wielders are here, and even Hibiki-san and Miku-san’s classmates, Kuriyo-san, Shiori-san and Yumi-san, are here. All of them are smiling, looking at me, and clapping. The room is decorated with multiple balloons, most of them pink, as well as a big banner with the message “Happy birthday, Shirabe!” written on it. To the side, right beside the kitchen, there’s a table decorated with a very pretty pink, black and white table cloth filled with snacks, as well as a cake with sixteen candles on top, that I’m sure Miku-san and the others had to guard very closely so it wouldn’t get raided by Hibiki-san before we got here.

I can’t help but smile shyly at their attention. “Thanks, everyone…” I say, averting my eyes.

Shortly afterwards, Kiri-chan runs up to me, quickly taking the blindfold off of my hands before pulling me in for a very tight hug.

“Shirabe, I’m so happy!” she exclaims, peppering my face with kisses.

“Kiri-chan… I can’t… b-breathe…” I manage to squeak out.

Meanwhile, I see Chris-senpai’s face reddening. “Oh, for fuck’s sakes, do that at home!” she barks, and everyone bursts out laughing.

Kiri-chan lets go of me, and I quickly peck her lips. “Thank you, Kiri-chan.”

She beams at me, then everyone approaches to give me their good wishes.

“Congratulations, Shirabe,” Maria says, giving me that kind, comforting smile of hers Kiri-chan and I have grown so fond of.

“Yes, we’re glad to finally be celebrating instead of fighting…” Tsubasa-san, who approaches with her fellow idol, chimes in.

I sigh. “Right… I’m just glad we managed to defeat Noble Red and Shem-Ha before my birthday…”

Then I hear Yumi-san chuckling, and I turn to look at her. “Aaaand before Valentine’s Day, right you two?” she asks Hibiki-san and Miku-san, a smirk on her face.

“Yumi!” Shiori-san chastises her friend, while Kuriyo-san snorts and covers her mouth with her hand in a failed attempt to hold her laughter in.

Miku-san blushes at the implication, turning her gaze away and scratching her cheek in embarrassment, but Hibiki-san reacts differently, as she grins impishly and wraps her girlfriend in a tight hug. “Yep! Pretty glad for that!” she declares before planting a kiss on Miku-san’s cheek.

“H-Hibiki!” the girl chastises, as red as Chris-senpai’s Ichaival, though she doesn’t exactly look like she wants the Gungnir wielder’s affections to stop.

“Ugh, twice in less than five minutes? Seriously?” Chris-senpai complains. “You all have no damn shame, I swear!”

Meanwhile, Yumi-san raises her arms in the air in a huge shrug and rolls her eyes. “About time, too! That whole thing was starting to look like a really bad romantic comedy anime or something.”

Meanwhile, Kiri-chan, Maria and Tsubasa-san all look at the others with amusement, the former holding my hand, while Shiori-san discreetly looks away from the scene, a light pink dusting on her cheeks, while Kuriyo-san’s eyes dart between the happy couple and Shiori-san, like she doesn’t know what to do with herself.

Finally, Maria clears her throat, drawing everyone’s attention, and claps her hands together. “Maybe we should get the celebration started?” she proposes.

I nod in response. “Good idea!” And everyone is eager to follow my example.

And so, we start celebrating my birthday. Everyone gets a glass of either juice or a soft drink, the snacks start to go around, and we start talking about various things. Highlights of the conversation include congratulating Chris-senpai on getting into the university she wanted to get into, causing her to blush and wave it off, as well as me finding out Kuriyo-san’s father is a construction worker who has been pressured due to the recent destruction of a lot of property caused by the appearance of Yggdrasil. Shiori-san comforts her in a way that almost looks romantic, and Yumi-san looks like she feels mildly out of place when that happens. Wanting to get the conversation back on track, I ask them, more directly than I would like, which causes them to laugh, why they are here, and they respond that Miku-san and Hibiki-san invited them out of feeling bad for not hanging out with them in a long time. They don’t seem to mind, though, and even Yumi-san boasts about having superhero friends.

After that, we move on to gaming, as proposed by Hibiki-san, since I enjoy video games. We take turns playing whatever games Hibiki-san and Miku-san have. The only ones who don’t take their turns playing are Maria, Tsubasa-san, Shiori-san and Miku-san, who seem content just watching, cheering for us, and having their own conversation. In the end, the one with the most victories is me.

After spending a while playing, Miku-san looks at the time and notices that it’s getting late. “Hey, everyone, I think we should sing Happy Birthday, eat cake, and give Shirabe-chan her presents.”

“Oh, yeah, let’s!” Kiri-chan cheers.

We move to the table, which is mostly empty aside from the cake by now, Miku-san turns out the lights, they sing me Happy Birthday, and I blow out the candles. Afterwards, we cut up the cake, everyone gets her piece, and we move back to the couch so they can give me their presents. I sit at the center, Kiri-chan to my right, and everyone else surrounding both of us.

“We first, we first!” Yumi-san exclaims, raising her hand in the air enthusiastically as she approaches me.

Kiri-chan, who sits beside me, nods in response. “Go ahead!”

I look at them expectantly as Yumi approaches with her two friends. “This gift is a joint one from all three of us,” Shiori-san explains.

“Hope you like it, Tsuki,” Kuriyo-san says, handing me the small box.

I nod appreciatively, then look down at it and remove the wrapping paper to find a box from a jewelry store. My interest piqued, I open it to find a pair of earrings in the shape of eighth notes. I smile at the sight, then take the earrings out of the box, remove my current ones, and replace them with the new ones.

“Do you like them?” Yumi-san asks.

“They’re… They’re pretty… Thank you,” I respond shyly, then look at Kiri-chan. “How do I look?”

“Adorable, dess!” she declares, very excited.

“Well, approval from the girlfriend is a good sign!” Kuriyo-san tells her two friends with a smile, and they both laugh in response, everyone else also looking fairly amused.

“Alright, we’re next!” Hibiki-san announces, approaching with Miku-san in tow, carrying an entirely too big box with them. It’s flat, but pretty tall…

I widen my eyes, wondering how I didn’t notice it before. “Uh…”

“This one is also a joint gift, from Hibiki and myself,” Miku-san explains.

“Now, open it!” Hibiki-san encourages as she gives me the box.

I place it on my lap, and not without some trepidation, I begin opening it. Once I’m done, I find a brand new bass inside.

“A bass!?” both Kiri-chan and I exclaim in disbelief.

“Woah!” Yumi-san exclaims. “Your superhero jobs really pay well!” This elicits an eyeroll from Shiori, a snort from Kuriyo, and everyone else to either chuckle nervously or avert their eyes, or both.

“Hey, you said you wanted one with five strings, so there you go!” Hibiki-san explains, Miku-san chuckling beside her.

I look down at the bass again, noticing that it does indeed have five strings. “Uh… Wow… I don’t know what to say…”

“You don’t need to say anything! We’re just glad you like it!” Hibiki-san assures.

“Happy birthday, Shirabe-chan,” Miku adds with a warm smile.

I sigh in response, then smile. “Thanks, you two.”

“Alright, guess I’ll go next,” Chris-senpai says, getting up and handing me her own gift, which seems to be a book of some kind.

I take it, open it, and find a compilation of sheet music for the bass labeled “Techno Rock Greatest Hits”.

“Hey, that’s cool!” Kiri-chan comments.

I look up at her with a smile, and she just shrugs. “Figured you’d like that. Happy birthday, kiddo.” Then she points at the book. “By the way, it includes a download code for e-readers, in case you care about that.”

I smile at her. “Thank you, senpai.”

She blushes slightly, scratches her cheek as she frowns, and returns to her seat. “N-no problem…”

“My turn,” Tsubasa-san announces. She hands me her own wrapped package, which seems to be a specially thick book.

I open it, confused by its thickness, only to find that it’s actually two books: a compilation of Japanese folk tales and a copy of the Iliad.

“I heard you talking about your interest in mythology, particularly Greek and Shinto,” Tsubasa-san explains.

“Thank you, Tsubasa-san.”

She nods in response. “Happy birthday, Tsukuyomi.”

“This one’s from me, Shirabe,” Maria says as she hands me yet another package that looks like a book, this one thinner like the sheet music compilation.

When I open it, I find a basic level Greek language textbook.

“I believe you wanted to start learning Greek? Well… I figured this would be a good starting point.”

Tsubasa-san laughs after seeing the book. “Such a motherly gift, Maria.”

Maria blushes in response to that. “Wh-what’s that supposed to mean!?” she asks her fellow idol, somewhat scandalised, and everyone laughs in response.

“Thank you, Maria.”

“Happy birthday, Shirabe,” she says, pulling me into a hug, which I return.

“Awww…” Yumi-san utters, causing everyone in the room to chuckle.

Maria straightens back up, and returns to her place.

“Last but not least, my gift!” Kiri-chan declares, producing a small bag from behind her. “Happy birthday, Shirabe!”

I raise my eyebrows, then take the bag and open it, curious. I find a small blue lucky charm, like those you can usually buy in shrines.

“A lucky charm?” I ask, raising it up to look at it better.

“Heheh… I went to the Tsuki Shrine to get this one,” she explains. “You seemed to like that place a lot, so I thought you might like a souvenir from it!”

I turn the charm over and see the outline of a small white rabbit, alongside the name of the shrine.

I turn towards her and hug her tightly. “Thank you, Kiri-chan.”

She chuckles as she hugs me back. “Don’t mention it!”

After that, we talk about minor things for a little while longer, then it comes time to clean up. Chris-senpai makes it a point to stop Tsubasa-san from helping with the cleaning, which makes the idol look somewhat annoyed and everyone else in the room to chuckle at her expense.

Miku-san gives me a bag I can use to put most of the gifts into, telling me to return it at a later date. I put the books and my old earrings, along with the box the new ones came in, inside, put the bass back in its case, and once Kiri-chan takes the latter, we say our goodbyes and take our leave, the lucky charm still in my hand.

The way back to the Lydian dorms, as well as getting ready for bed, is fairly uneventful. Kiri-chan and I get in bed after changing into our pajamas, and share one last kiss for the day.

“Goodnight, Kiri-chan…” I mutter.

“Night, Shirabe… Happy birthday.” She drifts off to sleep shortly afterwards, her arms and legs wrapped around me, as usual.

But despite wanting to go to bed, something bothers me. I frown, groan in frustration. I turn to the lucky charm, which I left on the nightstand earlier, take it and inspect it again, turning the lamp on so I can see it.

_ The Tsuki Shrine using the same kanji as my name must be a coincidence… Right?  _ I wonder. The thought keeps me up for a while longer, until my exhaustion finally catches up to me and I fall asleep.


End file.
